Jury still out on trial's oddest twist

Bizarre series of events marked parole officer's rape trial

By ROBERT GAVIN Staff writer

Published 12:00 am, Thursday, August 25, 2011

ALBANY -- It was the trial that would not end.

The trial of parole officer Nicholas Kordas, which started Aug. 8, concluded late Tuesday with a mistrial on rape and sodomy-related charges. Kordas, 51, was convicted of official misconduct, a misdemeanor.

In between, jurors witnessed a police chase through the courthouse and an earthquake that forced an evacuation -- and, finally, they rendered a verdict that was old news because the judge blurted out the word "guilty" when they were still in the jury room.

That's in addition to lengthy days of deliberation that only became longer when acting Supreme Court Justice Dan Lamont juggled the high-profile Kordas case at the same time as a trial for a man charged with driving with a suspended license.

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In the meantime, the judge repeatedly pressed the jury of eight men and four women to work toward a verdict -- even as one juror indicated the nightly deliberations could cost him his home and another had to leave to free her dog.

"This was a weird situation," said Albany lawyer Gaspar Castillo, who represented Kordas along with attorney Cheryl Coleman. "There was a lot of weird developments, weird happenings. Signs ... I took the earthquake to be a good sign. It forced everyone to leave the building. To me, that was a good thing."

In midtrial, a defendant in an unrelated case also evacuated the building -- he ran out of Judge Stephen Herrick's courtroom after the judge hiked his bail. Patrick Ward, 22, of Nassau County, ran down the courthouse stairs as Kordas and his wife headed upstairs. Kordas' lawyers said their client tried to catch the fleeing defendant but failed. Police soon captured Ward outside.

Seven jurors on the Kordas trial, on a break, saw the chase. To ensure it would not factor into their decision-making on Kordas, Lamont asked the jurors to come forward if they believed their impartiality had been compromised. None came forward.

By the time the case went to the jury Aug. 18, Lamont's courtroom also was being used for the trial of Robert Richards on felony charges of driving with a suspended license.

Castillo, who filed a complaint, told the Times Union he believed "Our case was way more important than the other trial."

Many observers had expected a quick verdict in the Kordas case. But the jury left at 10:30 p.m. Aug. 18 with no verdict. Nor did one come the next day, forcing the jury to suspend deliberations over the weekend. No verdict came Monday, either -- or by 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

At that point, jurors were deadlocked. And frustrated. One juror apologized to Lamont, but informed him deliberations were interfering with his life.

"I absolutely must work," the juror wrote. "I wait tables in the evenings and I don't have rent."

Another juror needed to make arrangements for child care, while another needed a police escort to go home and let her dog out of a crate.

In what he described as a "pep talk," Lamont asked the jury to keep working. When they were still deadlocked minutes before 9 p.m. Tuesday, Lamont decided the panel had worked long enough.

That's when the unusual turned bizarre. Assistant District Attorney Shannon Sarfoh, who prosecuted the case, asked Lamont if she could speak to the jury after the verdict was read. Lamont suggested he leave it up to the jurors. At that point, the partial verdict was still unknown.

"I mean I think after a guilty verdict that there is nothing in that but mischief and problems to speak to a jury that's rendered a guilty verdict," Lamont told the courtroom. "And this jury is rendering one verdict, guilty verdict. So I am not going to tell them you can't talk to them but I am going to tell them that the lawyers aren't coming back in the jury room."

A stunned Coleman asked, "Wait. So that means -- (they) found him guilty?"

Moments later, Sarfoh asked, "Judge, I'm sorry for interrupting. There's just one thing I want to clarify because I don't want the record left confused or unclear. Just a moment ago you were saying that, in responding to my request, this jury is rendering a guilty verdict and I'm sure the court simply misspoke."

"Oh, yeah," Lamont replied. "I did misspeak."

Lamont said he believed Kordas "basically admitted each and every element of official misconduct. But I misspoke and I apologize. It was not appropriate."

In the meantime, Kordas, who is suspended, remains free on $75,000 bail and could still be retried. "And it's not even done yet," Castillo said.